Stephen Harper went back to basics Thursday; back to the old school political tactics that got him elected in the first place.

That is, putting money back into the pockets of the people who earned it.

His new bundle of measures will provide $4.6-billion in annual tax relief for four million families with children.

Like the GST cut in 2006, economists and political opponents will gripe that the money could be put to more productive use; that benefit is skewed to people who don’t need the money.

But Mr. Harper will get it done and let them howl.

He learned long ago that while people might nod appreciatively when they’re asked if they support grandiose national daycare schemes, they vote for governments that send them cheques.

The prime minister joined families in a carefully choreographed event in Vaughan, Ont., where he unveiled a series of measures that will make life a little more affordable for families.

The main items were income splitting that will provide a credit of up to $2,000 for couple with children under 18; and, an enhancement of the Universal Child Care Benefit that will increase benefits to $160 a month, from $100, for children under the age of six. In addition, there will be a new benefit of $60 per month for children aged 6-17.

These are not small ticket items: Income splitting will cost $2-billion a year; the childcare extension will cost $4.5-billion annually (even after a $500 increase in tax receipts from income tax on benefit payments).

The net cost over six years comes in at $26-billion — around half the surpluses projected by the Parliamentary Budget Officer last week.

Stephen Poloz, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, warned Wednesday that an oil price of less than $90 would cut a quarter point off GDP next year, but Mr. Harper is clearly not concerned about external risks. His focus is local — more specifically, local to his own job. By draining the federal coffers before they’re even full again, he forces his political opponents to reverse his tax cuts, if they want to spend.

The prime minister has just rolled the dice. The childcare enhancements will become effective this January but payments won’t be made until July. That means millions of Canadian families will receive a backdated cheque worth several hundred dollars, three months before the next general election. The opposition will claim that this is bribing people with their own money. But it is very visible benefit and history suggests it’s one of the few occasions voters feel better off because of government action.

The estimate is that families with children will receive an additional $1,140 in tax relief and benefits each year.

The timing of the announcement means that the opposition parties will be forced to tell voters the cheques they were starting to get used to spending will stop landing, under an NDP or Liberal government.

Tom Mulcair, the NDP leader, committed himself to retaining the existing $100 universal childcare payment, or at least leaving it up to the provinces whether to absorb it. The enhancement provides him with a headache but he has already staked out his ground with his family platform — an affordable national daycare program, backstopped by Ottawa. He is offering a clear alternative to the Tories in the battle for the squeezed middle class.

But where are the Liberals? Justin Trudeau has already said he would repeal income-splitting legislation but what about the childcare benefit? For many families with kids, this is about to become more than beer and popcorn money. An average earning couple, with two kids under six, would lose more than $3,000 a year if the two measures were cancelled.

That is a hefty incentive to vote Conservative.

The announcement in Vaughan also marked a subtle shift in the undeclared election campaign. The Conservatives have been trying to sell Mr. Harper as a man of substance, the trusted custodian during troubled times. It has failed miserably.

Voters seem sick of seeing him around and Mr. Trudeau has provided a distinct and more harmonious counterpoint for many Canadians.

But on Thursday in Vaughan, it was the old Stephen Harper prowling the stage — an instinctive politician who knows in his guts that people want to hear how he’s going to make them better off.

The opposition parties will howl — those billions would be more productively spent on health, education, infrastructure and the environment.

Liberals I spoke with dismissed the package as “gimmicks.”

But few governments have been booted from office for overestimating the self-interest of the electorate.